Home in Kensington

If I don't skip school, I'm not Ee Von. Hahah. 

Yes currently at home because I skipped class today. Today I feel like talking about our (Wk and I) apartment. To make it fair, it's HIS apartment because obviously I can't afford to pay any rent now since I'm studying and I don't have a job in hand. I think it's only right to clarify that he pays for everything from rent to household. For that, no words can describe how grateful I am to have him.

We moved to this place about a week after I touched down. It's a little away from the city, 15 minutes train ride. Obviously it isn't as convenient as when we used to live in the city but the cost cannot be compromised at all. It's too much and not worth it - about AUD 2.4-2.7K for a 2 bedroom apartment. 

And besides we both know ourselves too well that we're not the type of people who can live with others easily. Not to say we're not easy going and difficult to please, but it's certainly not easy to find people who you can click with in an instant when it comes to cleanliness, taste (homewares and furnitures) and money issues. If we were to live in city, it's impossible to afford anything without having housemates. Trust me, the amount of stories I've heard from friends who live with others is enough to put my guards up when it comes to searching for housemates.

Sorry, I digressed. So about 4-5 months upon moving in, the apartment was then fully furnished.

The dining area went from this

to this

At the beginning we had to use the moving boxes as our dining table.

The living area went from this

to this

The bedroom went from this

to this

Did anyone notice how boring the colour scheme is? Hahahah no prize for guessing whose idea it's from. Apart from the red couch, everything's kept very black and white-ish. Actually they're not black, they're dark brown/timber finishes. So when we were deciding on the couch colour, I (kinda) insisted on red because there HAS to be at least one colour in the apartment. At least an accent. 

I am definitely glad to call this place home. I miss my home in Malaysia a lot but at least knowing I'm safe and warm, and the apartment is pretty good for a start, I'm thankful. Its an unfurnished 2 bed with built in robes + 2 bathroom apartment with an ensuite. Big living area, dining area and a good kitchen size (there's never 'too big' for a kitchen =P) which comes with a dishwasher and an oven. There's also a spacious balcony, which we 'decorated' with a barbecue pit. Hahah. I say decorate because we haven't been using it much. It's cold and I certainly won't like the idea of standing outdoors barbecueing. I don't understand how people do it in the winter.

All of the furnitures are from IKEA except for our room's bedside chair, which Wk bought from an online store that sells replica designer furnitures. Everything's from IKEA because that is the only place we could afford. But it was quite fun assembling everything :)

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Everything else has been alright. Still waiting for answers regarding our PR application. School has been ok. I definitely am on track and with my experience and qualification, I hate to sound like a bragger but I think I'm over-qualified so it's been pretty boring honestly hence, today decided to stay in and do something productive like cleaning the apartment. 

I hope everyone's doing fine.

Till next time.

I like to post food pictures

because I can.

The tallest slice of cake I have ever eaten, the french vanilla slice at the front. Had this at a random pastry shop near Saint Kilda. At the first few spoons it tasted good and almost satisfying because you get to eat that beautiful looking thing you had always looked through the glass at... and then there's a little bit of resistance in your tummy... and a little bit more... until it becomes unbearable. It was worth the try anyway, such a pristine looking thing.

Maggie returned from her trip in Sydney with a little souvenir for me. If you don't know Adriano Zumbo, go watch Masterchef. Anyway, she brought back a box of macarons of different flavours from his patisserie. My favourite's the one with white bits around it, Salted Popcorn. So nice! And she even knew I would like it she popped 2 in. Thank you Maggie! :D

Just because myeyelasheslooksuperfakebutIputsomucheffortputtingitsoIhavetoincludethispicture. Korean food here is awesome. Back in Malaysia seriously nothing compares. Or maybe I didn't try enough...

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Wanna talk about something totally random. I was in class and the teacher was doing revision with us. Our class has quite high ceilings and these tall windows and you can totally see another building on the outside separated by an alley. We were copying stuff from the board and then suddenly one of the students said she heard something. And the whole class went silent... and then... WE HEARD A WOMAN MOANING.

Not moaning in pain, it's the sexual kind and we knew it because it was ongoing and it sounded damn 'hiao'. One of the girls ran towards the window and looked through it and turned around, face horrified and said she saw a man's bum at the window on the opposite building.

And then the whole class went berserk for a while and then quickly settled down, continued with what's on the board. It was silent... and peaceful... UNTIL SHE MOANED ONCE AGAIN. And the whole class went berserk again lol.

Seriously! All you horny people. Shut the damn windows and pull the blinds down! For goodness' sake you're living right in the heart of CBD, right next to an alley, right next to a school!

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Ok that's it. School has been boring but ok. Made some friends and I'm glad this whole starting again isn't as bad as what I initially thought it would be.

Oooh I just downloaded WhatsApp and omg why didn't I get it earlier! It's so freaking convenient and worth it especially when I need to catch up with my whole bunch of friends in Malaysia! So... any of you who has my number and has Whatsapp, whatsapp me!

Burch & Purchese: It's a sweet revolution.

I don't think I have ever seen so much of effort, techniques and thoughts laid out in a slice of cake until I visited Burch & Purchese Sweet Studio. Well of course the ones on TV doesn't count. I get to see AND taste! :D Darren Purchese appeared in Masterchef in an episode and through that we got to know about his sweet studio and naturally of course Maggie and I decided to have a look since it is located in Melbourne and not too far away. 

The pictures obviously do no justice to his actual cake since we only got slices of it. The assembly of the whole cake looks more impressive. His cakes are like works of art. It's as though they're fine art in the form of cakes; you buy them and you don't just look at and appreciate them, you get to consume them!

Unlike the usual desserts, their cakes have very  straightforward names. They're named after what they are made of, which I think is kind of hard to remember lol.

This cake here has a total of 8 freaking layers of elements. I certainly applaud the techniques and thoughts put into this, but the taste... I'm on the fence. Not a fan of that aniseed there. It's strong and overpowers everything else instead of complimenting them, IMO.

Smoked White Chocolate, Coffee, Aniseed, Lemon

Smoked white chocolate cream, crunchy almond meringue, coffee buttercream, coffee sponge, aniseed syrup, brownie sponge, lemon curd, dehydrated choc rock.

This one's pretty good. The flavours come together quite well.

Vanilla, Pistachio, Lemon, Green Tea

White chocolate & vanilla mousse, pistachio cream, crunchy green tea meringue, lemon cream, pistachio cake, green tea macaron, brilliant white chocolate spray

Unfortunately I don't remember what these are called exactly. If I'm not wrong, it could be Lemon, Blackcurrant and Raspberry Lego. I do remember they're basically fruit flavoured mousse on the inside, chocolate velvet spray on the outside to achieve that velvet-y texture. Tastes really delicate and quite tangy, a good one in between all the sweet cakes. And doesn't the shape look absolutely adorable you can't wait to tuck in?

This one... I'm not sure but I think this is the name of it. I'm typically not a fan of any desserts which has alcohol (e.g. rum and raisin ice cream) but I was ok with this one, the rum isn't very out there which I like.

Banana, Caramel, Rum

Caramelised white chocolate & vanilla mousse, macadamia spiced speculaas, caramelised banana cream, passionfruit jelly, ascorbic rum jelly, caramelised milk solids, passionfruit curd, chocolate velvet spray

Visit the Burch & Purchese Blog to gawp at some unreal looking cakes.

By the way, if you're thinking of dropping by the studio to grab a cake and maybe chill and have a cuppa, forget about it. Maggie and I first thought it's a dessert place where you can sit down and slowly nibble on your cake but it isn't. It's a small shop where you can only buy or customize cakes/sweets, and that's it.